Cauliflower Fried Rice
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This Chinese-style cauliflower fried rice is a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Cauliflower rice — which is just cauliflower grated into rice-like bits — really does taste similar to rice, or at least it behaves similarly by soaking up all the flavor of its seasonings. In this quick and easy cauliflower fried rice recipe, I sauté grated cauliflower with aromatics, vegetables, soy sauce, and eggs, much like Chinese fried rice. It’s a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Cauliflower has a mild flavor that makes it an excellent blank canvas for other flavors. In addition to rice, it makes a great substitute for mashed potatoes in my cauliflower purée with thyme recipe. It’s also excellent roasted in my roasted cauliflower recipe.
What You’ll Need To Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
You’ll likely be able to find grated cauliflower in the produce or frozen vegetable section of your supermarket. But if not, it’s simple to make using a food processor (use the grating disc) or hand grater.
How To Make Cauliflower Fried Rice
As with any quick stir-fry, it’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped before you start cooking.
Begin by heating a few teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt and cook over medium heat until scrambled.
Set the eggs aside, then sauté the scallions, ginger, and garlic in oil until softened.
Add the grated cauliflower, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, and salt. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes.
Add the peas and carrots and continue cooking until the cauliflower “rice” is tender-crisp and the vegetables are warmed through, a few minutes.
Stir in the rice vinegar, sesame oil, dark green scallions, nuts (if using), and scrambled eggs.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Cauliflower Fried Rice
This Chinese-style cauliflower fried rice is a healthy, low-carb dish that’s hearty enough to serve as a main course.
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- Salt
- 1 cup chopped scallions, light and green parts separated (you'll need 5-6 scallions)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger, from a 1-inch knob (see note)
- One 2-lb head cauliflower (or 2 pounds "ready to cook" cauliflower rice), thawed if frozen
- 4-5 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free if needed)
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Asian/toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup chopped cashews or peanuts (optional)
Instructions
- Grate the cauliflower in a food processor fitted with the grating disc. Alternatively, grate on the large holes of a box or hand-held grater. Set aside. (Skip this step if using "ready to cook" cauliflower rice.)
- Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a large (10 or 12-inch) nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt and scramble until the eggs are cooked. Transfer to a small plate and set aside. Wipe the pan clean.
- Add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan and set over medium heat. Add the light scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the grated cauliflower, 4 tablespoons of the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes. Add the peas and carrots and continue cooking until the cauliflower "rice" is tender-crisp and the vegetables are warmed through, a few minutes. Stir in the rice vinegar, sesame oil, dark green scallions, nuts (if using) and eggs. Taste and adjust seasoning (adding the remaining tablespoon of soy sauce if necessary). Serve hot.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Serving size: about 2 cups
- Calories: 273
- Fat: 17 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Sugar: 8 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 12 g
- Sodium: 1717 mg
- Cholesterol: 93 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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This was great! Thank you! I’ll be making it again. I used it for Weight Watchers. Perfecto! I switched out the soy sauce for coconut liquid aminos. I used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar. It also fit in my gluten-free lifestyle since I have celiac disease. Thank you!!
Love, love, love this recipe – and it’s a vegetable!! How can something so good for you also taste so good?! It really does taste like fried rice…I can’t stop eating it. My daughter tried to substitute rice for the cauliflower; don’t do it – it was way too salty.
This is awesome!!! I used 1tsp mirin instead of sugar and added chicken in 1/4 c chicken broth. I used sam’s cauliflower rice. 2 – 12oz packages. This is a keeper and regular in the healthy meal rotation. Thank you!!
I made the recipe exactly as listed with Costco frozen rice and something didn’t taste right to me. I couldn’t figure out if I just missed the taste of regular fried rice, the Costco rice needed something done before cooking or I needed to add seasoning. I didn’t like this as much as the reviews suggested.
I’m confused by your review. You say you used rice… but the recipe uses cauliflower. So… wouldn’t that be the issue?
So good!!! Regular fried rice is always greasy and bland. This has so much more flavor, is healthy, and isn’t a lesser version of the real dish. I absolutely love this!
Loved this! Added some extra veg and served as main course. Will definitely make again
a lot of people could easily be put off by the lengthy amount prep But, it is sooooooooooooo worth the time taken – absolutely delicious.
My husband is diabetic, just tried this recipe and we live it. Added some baby bok choy for a little more crunch. Served with Grilled Flank Steak that was marinated in Soy Sauce, Ginger, and Garlic. Great dinner. Thanks!
This is super easy and delicious! I had all the ingredients on hand and it was on the table in about thirty minutes. Thanks Jenn!
This recipe is perfect! My daughter was on a restricted diet, could not have rice. This brought fried rice back into our home. Each of the ingredient compliments the other. This recipe can be put together quickly, and we added water chestnuts and celery for extra crunch.( per my daughter’s request for crunch). I had all the ingredients on hand and was able to stir fry it up easily. Just a note, it tastes great the next day cold when someone was searching the fridge for something to take for lunch. Thank you for giving my daughter fried rice back, and a very healthy recipe too.
Wow. This is by far the best cauliflower fried rice ever. Even my 12 year old daughter devoured it. I didn’t change a thing except that I omitted nuts due to allergy.